The 1997 Great Western Portland Tournament

In the northern end of the Great Western Series, the 10 and
5 man events at Enchanted Acres in Scappoose (near Portland) Oregon, featured
heavily wooded Pacific Northwest terrain on Labor day weekend 1997.

The 10 man event, played on Saturday got off to a belated
start. Planet Paintball, (host of the event) had under-estimated the volume
of high pressure compressed air needed to keep up with the fills. This
led to a delay of several hours in the first few rounds. Fortunately enough
down-time had been scheduled between games that a reduction in game time,
and limits of 300 rounds per player per game allowed all of the games to
be completed before the fields were too dark to play. In other tournaments
the promoters have shifted the blame for things like this - not in Portland!
Not only did Dan Bonebrake, Planet Paintball's owner, refund the entry
fees to the 10 man teams, but he also offered to reimburse airfare for
teams that flew. A number of teams, such as Marine Team, and Tsunami publicly
declined this offer, as even though there were some delays, they still
were able to play all of their games, win prizes, and gain points for the
series.

As usual in the GWS, the competition was intense. While
receiving Shockwave's trophy, Erick Felix said "I've been playing NPPL
for a time, and I've been a bit of a snob thinking in terms that our competition
was much higher. You guys have taught me otherwise."